We’re thankful for summer and sharing a great way to get outdoors with an outdoor movie night idea brought to you thanks to our partnership with Hershey’s via MomTrends.

Summertime always comes and immediately the one thing that runs through my head as a work from home mom is: how in the world am I going to take care of the kids all day AND get work done?

But this summer I’m approaching things differently. I’m not resenting the fact that our school cancelled their summer program right after all of the local museum classes filled up, or the fact that I don’t have a backup child care set in place because I didn’t think about it in February when apparently everyone else did. I’m going to make the best of our summers together and really strive to be thankful for summer.

At the end of the day, summer is the only real time I have to fully enjoy my kids until they move out of the house. That means 10 summers left with my oldest, 12 with my middle, and 17 with my youngest. Those are going to go by FAST!

5 Reasons To Be Thankful For Summer

1. More Time With The Kids –

While having the kids home all summer will be hard to balance my work/life workload, having more time with the kids is always a good thing and something to be thankful for. Even though I still have to work, I can take an afternoon or morning off each week to really spend one on one time with the kids. Plus we have some help from family so they can have fun adventures with Grandma, their great aunts, or their cousins throughout the summer too.

2. Later Bedtime –

Because we don’t have to wake up early, I can choose to spend more time with the kids at night (watching movies outside!) or catch up on work after bed time. The kids love having the freedom of no bedtime and actually get to bed by 9pm when this happens so they’re not up too late. And everyone is in a better mood when we go to bed and get up when our bodies tell us to.

3. No Alarm Clock –

Ok, confession: I don’t use an alarm clock. But I do have to wake up at 6:30am every day during the school year to make sure the kids get out the door and to school on time. Because we don’t have to actually get up and go somewhere (if we choose not to), we can sleep in. AND? We can have pajama days. Lots and lots of pajama days!

4. Warm Weather –

I love that we get to enjoy all summer together when the weather is nice. Sure there’s a few weeks where it’s unbearably hot. But living here in San Diego means that we can take full advantage of the beaches, pools, and other outdoor (and some indoor) areas to keep cool. I fully plan on taking advantage of our location this year and have quite a few beach days planned for us. Even if that means I have to get my keyboard a little sandy while I work and they play.

5. Fun Adventures –

With the warmer weather and lack of an actual place we have to be, we can have fun adventures this summer (and every summer) that we wouldn’t have had the freedom to do during the school year. As I mentioned previously, we’ll take full advantage of our location. But I’m also planning at least one road trip and a few staycations to enjoy ourselves this year. I’m also hoping to schedule at least one activity outside the home a week. That way I’m not too stressed about too many activities but we still get to do fun things.

So far here are some of my ideas for summer fun adventures: hikes, beach/pool days, zoo trip, free days at museums, movies in the middle of the day, trip to the water park, trip to the mountains, gardening club, city clean up days, trip to the aquarium

One of our fun adventures this summer will be getting outdoors and enjoying movie night on our trampoline. And it’s SUPER simple!

Outdoor Movie Night On A Trampoline

Grab a white sheet plus a pile of blankets and pillows.

Hang the white sheet over one side of the net on your trampoline and clamp down with clamps (I just use the clamps I use for my photo backdrops here).

What #Simply5 words describe a sweet memory that’s made your day special?

Sometimes, even the process of enjoying the little things in life – like movie night – becomes complicated. It shouldn’t require a year-long commitment or tons of planning.

In honor of the sweet and simple ingredients in Hershey’sSimply 5 Syrup and the sweet and simple memories that it inspires, we want people to share the sweetness in everyday moments. Take a moment to “stop and smell the chocolate” and share your #Simply5 – a five word recount of what makes your day sweet.

Post your #Simply5 on social media by sharing a five word recap of what makes your day special!

We’re getting creative in the kitchen with this fun Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream in a Bag recipe brought to you thanks to our partnership with Hershey’s via MomTrends.

This weekend the kids and I got a little creative in the kitchen. After finding that my husband ate the last of the ice cream, they were determined to make a fun sweet treat to enjoy while we watched movies together. So I suggested we make ice cream. Now their first reaction was one of disbelief. Not that they hadn’t made ice cream before, but because our ice cream maker has been in the garage since we’ve moved here and they knew that wasn’t going to happen. So when I suggested that we shake and make our own homemade ice cream in a bag like I used to with my grandma, their eyes lit up and they were 100% on board to try things out.

While we were going over what ingredients we needed – ice, ice cream salt, heavy whipping cream, vanilla, sugar – my son spotted the HERSHEY’S SIMPLY 5 Syrup and asked if we could turn our ice cream into chocolate chip ice cream like the kind we’ve made before with a ribbon of homemade ganache. Instead of nixing the idea right away, I asked him what he’d do to make chocolate chip ice cream from the syrup. His mind started going and the ideas started cranking out.

He settled on an experiment he wanted to try out: If we squeezed a ribbon of HERSHEY’S SIMPLY 5 Syrup onto wax paper and froze it, would it become hard so we could break it up into our ice cream?

So I let him set everything up and try it out. After about 3 hours in the freezer, though, the syrup was very cold, but not solid. So he decided that we’d just drizzle the chocolate in the ice cream mix to make a chocolate ice cream. Even though his hypothesis was wrong, he still ended up with a pretty yummy outcome!

Each of the older two had their own bags of ice cream and both decided on stopping when it became the consistency of soft serve vs. waiting until it became a more formed ice cream (see the photo below). If you don’t like a little melted ice cream, feel free to shake until the ice cream turns harder.

Just a little squeeze of the HERSHEY’S SIMPLY 5 Syrup, brings back cherished childhood memories I created with my family so it was fun to do this with my kids. It’s an easy way to share a sweet and simple moment with my family. We also love enjoying a glass of milk with a little swirl of syrup inside!

In the quart size zippered plastic bag, add heavy whipping cream, sugar, vanilla, and HERSHEY’S SIMPLY 5 Syrup. Seal tight making sure to get most of the air out.

In the freezer size zippered plastic bag, add the ice and ice cream salt. Then add the ice cream mixture bag. Shake, shake, shake like crazy until your ice cream starts forming (about 3-5 minutes of shaking). I suggest putting on some dance music to make it more enjoyable!

Once your ice cream has formed, wipe off any excess salt from the bag and snip a corner of the bag with some scissors (if soft serve consistency) to pour into a cup or bowl. Or use a spoon to scoop out (if harder consistency). Drizzle with more HERSHEY’S SIMPLY 5 Syrup and enjoy!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The a2 Milk Company™. All opinions are 100% mine.

One thing we always have to keep stocked in the house besides milk is fruit. My kids go through fruit like other kids might go through candy. We enjoy fruit for breakfast, with our lunch, and even for dessert! These strawberry mango cream pops are one of their favorites and reminds me of one of our favorite smoothies in popsicle form. So good!

What I love about this recipe is how easy it is to make. 4 ingredients all blended together and poured into cute popsicle molds then set overnight in the freezer. And because we use a2 Milk®, I don’t have to worry about my daughter having tummy troubles or breaking out with eczema. Over the past few months of using a2 Milk® with her we’ve found that reducing dairy and grabbing the a2 milk® instead has helped her.

Strawberry Mango Cream Pops

1 cup strawberries, hull removed

1 cup mangos, sliced

1/2 cup a2 Milk®

2 tablespoons honey

Blend all ingredients in your blender until smooth. Grab popsicle molds and fill to fill line. Make sure not to overfill! Place molds in freezer and let set overnight. Remove molds from freezer and enjoy.

Over the past few months we’ve incorporated a2 Milk® into our everyday lives and it’s now our go-to milk. The kids haven’t noticed a difference at all but I have. Since we’ve introducing our 15 month old to a2 Milk®, and me drinking it as well, she’s been happier and has had less breakouts with her eczema. Since all other forms of mammal’s milk (i.e. goat, sheep, human) only contain the A2-type proteins, she’s used to only getting the A2 protein. I’m hoping this continues to make her transition to cow’s milk easier as she nurses less and less.

While I’m watching what I eat in an effort to get down to my ideal weight (no number just yet, just more comfortable in my body then where I am now) I do enjoy a little indulgence every once in a while. Since we didn’t have any ice cream on hand for a late night snack, I decided to turn to the frozen bananas I had in my freezer for smoothies and turn them into something a little more decadent… 2-Ingredient Nutella Banana Ice Cream.

I love how easy banana ice cream is. Normally just one ingredient if you want something sweet and creamy but by adding just one more ingredient, something simple is taken to the next level. I’m always amazed at how two ingredient recipes can be so amazing!

Nutella Banana Ice Cream

What you’ll need:

3 bananas, sliced and frozen

1/2 C. Nutella

What you do:

Place the frozen banana slices into the food processor and pulse.

Add in the 1/2 a cup of Nutella and pulse until the bananas and Nutella are combined.

Pour the ice cream mixture into a freezer safe dish, cover and freeze for an hour prior to serving.

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Smart & Final.

Mother’s Day is all about mom’s favorite things, right? And I know that my mom – and mother in law – loves sweets. Since it’s been so warm lately I knew she’d appreciate something cool if she were down here (don’t worry mom, we can make these again!).

So when I headed out to Smart & Final to pick up some ingredients for an awesome dessert to serve on Mother’s Day, I knew that First Street ice cream would be the perfect base for any dish.

I thought bringing my husband along with me as we shopped would be a bad idea but he inspired this dish when he asked if he could pick up some chocolate chip cookies too. Genius!! Why not make ice cream sandwiches?

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